Dedicated educators and gifted musicians. A caring public housing servant. A trailblazing police officer. The seven African-Americans celebrated in this year’s Black History edition left indelible imprints on Kansas City and the surrounding region, breaking down barriers, lifting and inspiring entire communities.

The honorees include one of the most eminent figures in the city’s African-American history, Joelouis Mattox, who devoted much of his life to researching, preserving, and promoting that history. A man whose contributions and influence transcended geographic and cultural lines, he was proclaimed “a treasure” by former Kansas City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks when he died in March 2017.

Mattox’s devotion to community, to enriching the lives of others, is shared by all who are spotlighted